Member States may allow consumer protection associations to bring representative actions against infringements of the protection of personal data under the ‘GDPR’ Regulation (2016/679), the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Jean Richard de la Tour, ruled in his opinion delivered on Thursday 2 December (Case C-319/20).
In Germany, the Federation of Consumer Centres and Associations is accusing Facebook Ireland of violating data protection, unfair competition and consumer protection rules in connection with the provision of free games by third-party companies in the ‘Applications Area’. The German Federal Court, which referred the case to the Court, is of the opinion that the digital giant did not provide users with the necessary information about the purpose of the processing of their personal data.
The Advocate General recalls that, in its judgment in Fashion ID of July 2019, the Court held that Directive 95/46, repealed by the ‘GDPR’, did not preclude national legislation allowing consumer associations to take legal action against the person alleged to be responsible for an infringement of the protection of personal data (see EUROPE 12306/13). He considers that neither the fact that Directive 95/46 has been replaced by a regulation nor the fact that the ‘GDPR’ Regulation now devotes one article to the representation of data subjects in legal proceedings are capable of calling in question what the Court decided in that judgment.
Thus, according to Richard de la Tour, Member States may still provide for the possibility for certain entities to bring - without a mandate from the data subjects and without there being a need to claim the existence of actual cases affecting named individuals - representative actions designed to protect the collective interests of consumers, when there is an alleged breach of the ‘GDPR’ Regulation.
In addition, the Advocate General clarifies that a consumer association can bring an action to ensure compliance with the ‘GDPR’ Regulation through EU rules protecting consumers or combating unfair commercial practices.
See the conclusions: https://bit.ly/3G8a9Dj (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)